Today has been utter chaos! We have no principal, no Grade 2 teacher and no idea what to do! Apparently we’re supposed to clean and arrange our classrooms and start planning lessons and the year. But first, some major roadblocks: the calendar is not out yet, the daily schedule is not out yet, my textbooks are not out yet, and then, there’s the FLOOD.
So it’s the rainy season here. The university is up on a hill. But the International School is at the bottom of the hill. And the way from university to school is about 250 meters of unpaved, loose top soil. Rain comes from top of the hill and by the time it reaches us, it’s now thick, muddy slush which fills the drains and part of the first floor. After getting drenched in the rain coming back from lunch, I was greeted by the sight of the other teachers using dustpans as scoops to scoop and smash out of the corridors. It took us a good hour to clear the school and then dig out the soil that filled up the drain. But these are reasons why the flood was a good thing:
1. It got the teachers together, both Khmer and foreign teachers.
2. Even though I’m stuck in some small school, in some small town without a clue what I’m supposed to do or how to teach, me being here feels somewhat significant. 50 kids out there depend on 10 of us teachers for a clean school and decent education. And perhaps 12 kids out there need a Grade 1 teacher and there’s no one else. Inch deep in mud and stinking of sweat and rainwater, I felt important.
3. Who doesn’t like an excuse to play in the rain? Hehehe…
After work, I got to snuggle up to my bible, my journal and a good book. Ahhh… Quiet times are so much better after a long days work and nice shower.
In Him was life and that life was the light of men.
John 1:4
He must become greater; I must become less.
John 3:40
wow, this is intense.
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